The Star: May 11, 2017

4 Thursday

4 Thursday May112017 Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi TheStar News Retirement village fence dispute resolved • By Sarla Donovan A DISPUTED fence in an over- 60s retirement village is to be moved. Sanctuary Villas resident Patsy Clegg had the fence (above) built six years ago to provide her corner unit with privacy but neighbours Kathleen and Glyn Hardy claimed the fence was illegal and dangerous. It borders an access road used by residents and the Hardys said it intruded onto common property and limited the visibility of vehicles rounding the corner. Mrs Clegg has agreed to move the fence back from the road at her own expense, after being asked by the Sanctuary Villas body corporate committee, which oversees the affairs of residents. A plan for the alteration was drawn up and the Hardys have now agreed to it. The fence is to be shifted in June. CAR PARKING CRISIS: A Photoshopped (left) image of what car parking at Hospital Corner could be, and (right) what it is today. HAVE YOUR SAY: Email gabrielle.stuart@starmedia.kiwi on whether Hagley Park should be used as a temporary car park. Idea to tackle hospital car parking issues •From page 1 Using Hagley Park for car parking is likely to be a contentious issue. TheStar asked Mayor Lianne Dalziel what she thought of the idea. But she did not answer the question, saying only it had not been raised in any formal discussions with her, and it was not something she was currently considering. Hands Off Hagley, the group which fought against the cricket oval in the park, says the idea to use it for temporary car parking had merit. Spokesman Martin Meehan said he would be open to seeing it used, so long as it was public parking, only for a set period of time, and had strict safeguards around it. “The cricket was a permanent acquisition, whereas this is temporary and for the greater good. So I wouldn’t be out there with placards,” he said. Part of Hagley Park was used temporarily for hospital car parking after the February 22, 2011, earthquake, but that land is now part of the Hagley Oval development. Mr Meehan said the city council spent $1.2m upgrading the Hospital Corner sports fields last year, and he was worried that would be wasted. “Logic would say yes, it’s an ideal spot to use. But for goodness sake, where was the planning around parking? This should never have been allowed PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER to happen,” he said. A Government Act has strict rules around how Hagley Park can be developed, and says the city council cannot “appropriate” any part of the park for car parking without consent from the Minister of Conservation. But a spokeswoman for Minister of Conservation Maggie Barry said her advice was that the proposal would be classed “temporary use,” so it would not require the minister’s consent. Does the 31 October wood burner deadline affect you? The deadline to get a building consent to replace wood burners older than 15 years with a low emission wood burner is 31 October 2017. After that, your only option might be the ultra-low emission model. Do you have any burning questions about this? Which wood burner is cheaper? The low emission model Which one costs less to run? The ultra-low emission model What are my choices after 31 October? In many cases only the ultra-low emission model Which one is better for our health and for the environment? The ultra-low emission model Which one is better long term value? The ultra-low emission model Find out if you need to replace your wood burner and be in to WIN at www.warmercheaper.co.nz Older style wood burner Low emission Ultra-low emission ECN/030/SC_180x263

TheStar 5 News Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi Thursday May112017 Bid to beat roading botch-ups • By Bridget Rutherford NO MORE contentious road layout changes will begin in the central city until there is general consensus on the plans. That is the message from city council transport operations manager Aaron Haymes (left). He told TheStar the city council had been listening to concerns about its central city An Accessible City projects, and no more would start until they had been addressed. “We need to listen.” It comes after it was forced to review its St Asaph St changes after uproar they made it too narrow, with poor access to on-street car parks. The review is ongoing. The next project was Victoria St, with work planned aiming to make it more pedestrian, cyclist and bus-friendly, he said. The aim was to start construction in June, but he said the city council would meet with all stakeholders involved to make sure everyone was happy with it first. “The last thing we want to be PROBLEM: The city council says it will not start another An Accessible City project until everyone is happy, after uproar about changes to St Asaph St. PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER ​ doing is going head to head with the community. “It’s really important to us that people like what we’re doing and are on board.” Mr Haymes said there needed to be give and take, because if the city council made too many compromises, the programme “might not get the benefits that we think we could get.” The comments come after the issue was discussed at a recent Tuesday Club meeting, organised by former Mayor Garry Moore. At the meeting, developer Stephen Collins said the city council and Otakaro needed to “take a breath” so they could review all the projects “We need to make sure we don’t have another St Asaph St,” he said. Mr Collins, who built the Deloitte building on Cambridge Tce, said developers had spent $1 billion on central city buildings. That meant nothing if people did not go to shop there because the roading layout was too difficult, he said. An Accessible City is an anchor project that aims to make the roading network more compact and people-friendly by adding cycleways, narrower traffic lanes, planting, reduced speed limits and removing on-street car parks. Otakaro is delivering four projects, with the remaining done by the city council. An Otakaro spokesman said it had attended recent stakeholder meetings with the city council and would continue to do so, when they related to its projects. Mr Haymes said he wanted to work with contractors before they started building so it would not affect the roading network. He said having both roadworks and construction on the same streets, such as Cambridge Tce, was causing problems. Surgery’s new home in operation THE 24 Hour Surgery is now open to patients in its new home. The new surgery, in Pegasus House on Madras St, near the intersection with Bealey Ave, became operational at 12.01am on Wednesday, after it was officially opened by Prime Minister Bill English on Friday. It has moved from Bealey Ave into the larger and more advanced home. The not-for-profit surgery is run by Pegasus Health, and staffed by Christchurch general practitioners and contracted medical officers. Pegasus House, which was originally the home of Statistics New Zealand, now houses all of Pegasus Health’s operations. Pegasus Health says the surgery plays a pivotal role in supporting general practice and the Canterbury District Health Board to provide around the clock accident and medical care. It sees about 1600 patients each week. It is expected the surgery will help reduce the number of people going to hospital, which is part of Pegasus Health and the CDHB’s strategy. Time To Insulate Your Rental Ceiling Insulation Up to 100 sqm FRoM JusT $995 Do you have a rental home? Call us today for a SPECIAL DEAL on ceiling and underfloor insulation Phone 0800 434 600 | 10d Sheffield Crescent, Burnside www.livinghouse.co.nz We offer a wide range of Earthwool Glasswool plus acoustic sound absorbing insulation. FREE QUOTES L ivinG H ousE